


House of Mannequins

by vampirekiki



Series: The Ornamental Dolls AU [2]
Category: ALvino (Band), Jrock, L'Arc~en~Ciel, LM.C, Pierrot (Band), X JAPAN
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Ambiguous Relationships, Dolls, Horror, M/M, Mannequin, Mystery, Slow Burn, Spooky, Supernatural Elements, Suspense, Tokyo (City), ambiguous incest, 観用少女 Dolls - Kawahara Yumiko
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-31
Updated: 2020-12-27
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:28:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24471310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vampirekiki/pseuds/vampirekiki
Summary: Two youngsters looked into the mysteries of their childhood friend's disappearance, the strange House of Mannequins by a mist-shrouded lake, and the strange residents hid in the mansion.Here is the link to thefour parts prequel: Doll Inside the Box.
Relationships: Aiji/Jun (Pierrot), Kirito/Kohta (Pierrot | Angelo), hide/Yoshiki (X JAPAN)
Series: The Ornamental Dolls AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1371943
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	1. Prologue I

**Author's Note:**

> It is the second part of my fanfic series with a world setting based on a girl manga series called 'Ornamental Doll' (観用少女 or Dolls, by Yumiko Kawahara), the plot is also based on Natsuhiko Kyogoku's and Yukito Ayatsuji's crime and mystery novels because I love these novels/manga series like crazy.
> 
> Enjoy.

Prologue I

The teenage boy ran among the grassland, running straight into the twilight realm between solid reality and twisted weightless dreams. 

He looked back to where he came from. The train and the train station was nowhere in sight now, nor any other building or any other man-made structure, only an endless field of yellowing weed, surrounding them from all sides. 

Them. The Doll inside the box and him, alone in the middle of nowhere.

He couldn’t go back, there was nothing in the real world for him to return to. Not after what he had done with this man on the train.

He couldn’t go forward, there was nowhere for him to go either, there was nothing for him in the future either. 

He was not going anywhere, he had no place in either realms, and he knew a decision must be made.

So the boy set the box among the weed and opened the lid.

The Doll inside the box, his eyes were still open, blinking slowly, the Doll was still smiling up at him.

Taking a deep breath, the boy made his wish to the Doll.

 _“Let me be like you.”_

The beautiful Doll continued to smile.

When seeing this enchanting smile, the boy felt as though his heart is being emptied out.

His body became hollow.

For a beautiful moment, his mind turned blank.

Complete blankness blissfully followed, and then there was nothing.

His wish was granted. 

He became the same like the Doll.

As a Doll, he couldn't move anymore, so he simply fell down among the grass, beside the Doll inside the box.

Then someone ran all the way from the real world to this piece of grassland between twisted dreams and reality; the man discovered the box first and tried to open it and see what was inside.

Then a second man arrived, trying to stop the first man. The second man tried to stop the first man from opening the box.

The two men shouted at each other over the box, their voices were loud, very threatening.

The boy couldn't take it anymore, so he closed his eyes.

Nothing.

****

When the boy woke up again, he was inside a shop, a special shop for Ornamental Dolls.

The Doll inside the box was also in the shop, with him, so the boy wasn't worried.

The Shop was a quiet place, with Dolls sleeping peacefully among the fine antique furniture and the delicate fabrics.

The boy was also a Doll now, but only he remained awake while other Dolls were all asleep.

He didn't know why, but as a Doll he couldn't move, couldn't voice out his thoughts.

All he could do was sitting on his chair and wait, listening to the sound and the conversations around him.

The person he saw the most often was the Shop Owner. The second man who chased after he and the Doll inside the box all the way to the grassland, then brought both him and the Doll to his Shop.

What happened to the first man? The boy didn't know, but it hardly seemed to matter now.

The Shop Owner's friend, a young man named Tetsu, would visit the Shop on occasion; unlike how he was with the other Dolls, Tetsu was always nervous whenever he went anywhere near him, though. The boy had overheard Tetsu complaining to the Shop Owner---his name was Yukihiro, how he wasn't used to seeing a Doll with his eyes open instead of appearing to be asleep, like the rest of the other Dolls in the Shop.

It didn't matter, Tetsu's opinion and his discomfort meant little to him.

All he cared about was the fact that it he was here, sharing space with his beloved Doll. No one could disturb them again.

Sometime, there were customers visiting the Shop, and the Shop Owner would introduce the Dolls to them, one by one.

According to Yukihiro, the Ornamental Dolls were living dolls who were capable of feeling emotions and sensing other people's moods. They had to be looked after with care and love.

Love seemed to be essential to the survival of the Dolls.

Although the Dolls were all seemingly asleep before they met the person who was the most suitable to take them home and look after them, still the Dolls were also, in their subtle and mysterious manners, capable of communicating with each other. 

The boy was confused. He hadn't heard anything from any of the other Dolls in the Shop. None of the Dolls had ever communicated with him.

He sat alone, with the silence surrounding him from all sides.

Why was he alone? He began to wonder.

The other Dolls wouldn't communicate with him. Whenever he tried to reach out for another, he was always met with silence.

Even the Doll Inside the Box, now with his limbs all put back artfully together and was whole again; he just only smiled at him, never saying anything to him, there had never been any communication.

Once realization hit him, the boy suddenly felt empty.

He was empty, an empty shell. He had nothing to offer to anyone.

Not a warm, disarming smile.

No sparkle in the eyes.

No innocent beauty.

No inner glow of purity and joy.

No love.

Was that the exact reason why the other Dolls wouldn't talk to him? Because he had never been one of their own?

Even in this place, he was still alone.

It wasn’t the happiness he had wished for.

He did not want to spend eternity in silence and emptiness.

He regretted it. 

He had crossed the lines that shouldn't be crossed, so he became _nothing_ as a result.

He could never regain what he’d lost.

But he was trapped in this doll form, no matter how much he was screaming, doubting himself and struggling on the inside, outwardly he still couldn't even move a muscle. For he was a Doll now.

He was trapped here, forever.

With each passing day, the silence, guilt and emptiness slowly weighted him down, crushing him into pieces.

Until there was nothing left.

Even pain had become a foreign concept. 

Then one day, someone had arrived to the Shop, he was going to take his Doll away.

The boy could only sat on his fine chair and watched, he was saddened by the fact that his Doll was going to be taken away from him by a stranger, but his Doll had opened his eyes for this stranger and accepted him so there wasn’t anything he could do, for the boy was still trapped by the emptiness filling his being, whatever affection he once had, was by now mostly dead. He had long past the point of having much of a feeling.

He would have continued to sit in silence for eternity if the stranger hadn’t stopped and looked straight at him as he walked down the corridor.

But the highly cultured and elegant long-haired man did stop right in front of him, staring at him with curiosity clear on his face.

It was the first time someone staring at him, studying him like this. Most of Yukihiro’s customers would either grow uncomfortable when they went anywhere near him like Tetsu, or just downright ignored his existence.

For such a long time, no one had ever...looked at him and _acknowledge_ him like what the man was doing now.

“Are you in pain?” The man asked, never breaking eye contact.

_Yes._

“Do you want to leave this place behind?”

_Yes._

“Will you come with me?”

 _Yes._

Wherever his Doll went, he would follow…

''Please, Yoshiko sama, please stop it---'

It was the voice of Yukihiro, interrupting, there was an unexpected tension in his usually calm voice. As if the Shop Owner was nervous, even afraid.

**''Take me with you…”**

The boy could barely believe his own ears, but he was hearing himself speaking up, his own hoarse voice wavering into the thin air around them.

Even Yukihiro had gone completely still and silent.

**“I want to go with you…''**

With his eyes fixing on the elegant man with long curly brown-gold haired, the boy finally made his decision clear.


	2. Prologue II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Dolls are always free to choose who they’d go home to, that is how the Dolls work. Still, this time, I am not at all certain it’s best of this pair of Dolls to go with _this man_...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’d changed the English title into ‘ House of Mannequins’, because the original title looks kinda stupid in English.
> 
> Here is the link to the [four parts prequel: Doll Inside the Box](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18974149/chapters/45051523).

Prologue II

Somewhere in Tokyo, there was a Shop rumored to be specializing in the trade and maintenance of the rare and precious Ornamental Dolls: humanoid living dolls with the most delicate of appearance and unique loveliness, who were capable of behaving almost exactly like humans. Living dolls with a will of their own and a heart to love and be loved in return. They were also rumored to be able to choose the ones who were supposed to be their owners.

It was also rumored that if you were able to convince a Doll to choose you, they would bring you good luck, unwavering affection, fulfillment and unearthly happiness. 

People in the city, those who were desperate to find love and warmth in this harsh world, those who were searching for something beautiful in their lives, those lonely souls would willingly throw away huge amount of money just in order to bring one Doll home with them. 

These unique and precious Dolls requested the most delicate kind of care and maintenance, so before the Dolls could meet the person who was meant to take them home and care for them, all of the Dolls would stay in a Shop just for them and be put under the care of the Shop Owner, an expert who possessed the knowledge and skills to maintain the Dolls without being charmed and overwhelmed by them like normal men and women. 

The sun was setting, the Shop for the Dolls was closed for today, but the current Shop Owner, Yukihiro, was still staying behind to maintain the Dolls under his care, whilst he spent time with a visiting friend of his.

The friend in question, a young man named Tetsu, was himself an owner/caretaker of an Ornamental Doll, curiosity had kept him coming back to visit the Shop and the Dolls within it, and though the passing of time, he befriended the quiet Shop Owner himself.

Although Tetsu had known Yukihiro for some time now and he had grown familiar with the Shop and its Dolls, still there were too many secrets surrounding the Dolls and the enigmatic Shop Owner.

“Yuki san, there’s something I always want to ask you...” The blond haired man begun hesitatingly. 

“What is it, my friend?” Sipping his tea, the Shop Owner replied in his usual calm, quiet voice. The two of them were currently drinking tea in one of the halls inside the spacious Shop, with a few sleeping Dolls were also settled in the hall they were in. Yukihiro---or ‘Yuki’ to the small group of people whom he called his friends, had finished most of his tasks for today and was now relaxing in the company of friend.

“I’ve been wondering about it for a long time, ” Tetsu continued, still hesitating. “Why is this Doll always...has his eyes open?”

Yukihiro looked up, only to see Tetsu pointing at a brown haired Doll sitting in the hallway, just outside of the entrance of the hall they were in.

“You pick up an interesting Doll for your question, Tetsu san...”

Yukihiro’s reply didn’t particularly answer Tetsu’s question. 

“I can’t help it, Yuki san!” The blond haired one protested. “All of the other Dolls appearing to be asleep, with their eyes close, but _just not this Doll_. I can’t never get used to it!”

Ornamental Dolls and their unique beauty could be unsettling to newcomers who weren’t familiar with them. But Tetsu had grown quite used to the other Dolls in Yukihiro’s nameless Shop, but this particular Doll, who was in the form of a lithe teenage boy, with a delicate face, soft deep brown hair and almond-shaped eyes of the same color. his never blinking eyes, the emptiness in those eyes, just made him really, really uneasy.

“This Doll...there’s quite some _history_ behind him...” Touching the edge of his teacup with the tips of his fingers, Yukihiro whispered. "It may be for the best if this Doll stay in this Shop..."

“So he isn’t for sell?” Tetsu was ever more surprised, he thought all of the Dolls were waiting for their turn to be brought home by the person who was the most suitable to be their owner. Yukihiro had always made it sound like finding a suitable owner to love and care for them was the best thing could happen to a Doll.

Judging from his experience with his own Doll, Tetsu agreed such union was quite a blissing. A small miracle all on its own.

So far, the Shop Owner hadn’t answered any of his questions, his friend’s attitude was puzzling enough, then Tetsu also came to notice something else. Yukihiro always addressed the Ornamental Dolls by their different names, but with this particular Doll, the man never mentioned the Doll’s name. It was as if the Doll didn't have a name at all.

But it's foolish to think a Doll would receive no name. Tetsu had heard of Doll Makers naming each of their Dolls, their masterpieces, individually, based on the Doll's different physical traits, their talents or their very nature.

So each Doll must have a name, right? Even this strange Doll who had unsettled him so much. Why didn't he ask Yukihiro now, to finally know the name of this particular Doll?

He was about to ask Yukihiro this particular question when the bell rang all of a sudden.

“May I come in?” A male voice asked from behind the closed front door.

Tetsu was surprised, a customer arriving at this hour? It should be common knowledge among the admirers of the Dolls to know Yukihiro would _not_ serve any customer after the Shop was closed for the day.

Yukihiro stood up from his seat at once, made his way across the hall to the front of his shop, unlocking the door in order to politely tell the customer outside to come back tomorrow. “Dear customer-sama, I’m sorry but we are closed--” 

The unknown customer at the door replied. “Would you mind doing me just a little favor, Yukihiro-san? For old time’s sake?”

“You--” Once he recognized who was standing there at his doorsteps, Yukihiro was taken aback. “Yoshiki-sama...”

“Surprised to see me, old friend?” The customer… _Yoshiki_ greeted the Shop Owner casually, as though they were actually a pair of good friends who had happened to not have a meet up for sometime.

The problem was, Tetsu had never heard Yukihiro mentioning he had a friend named Yoshiki.

As the man walked further into the Shop, Tetsu finally got a better look at this surprise-visitor. Yoshiki was a man in his late twenty or early thirty, his golden brown curly hair was longish and rich, reaching all the way down his back. His face was delicate enough to be mistaken for a beautiful woman’s, but the determination in his deep set eyes, the masculine outlines of his feature spoke of a man with strong will and energy. 

“How may I serve you, Yoshiki sama?” As soon as the surprise of seeing an unexpected visitor had passed, Yukihiro quickly shifted back to his business mode.

“I come here to look at the Dolls.”

Tetsu thought to himself, so this man was a friend and also a customer? The blond haired man had seen quite a number of men and women, from all walks of life, who took different Dolls home with them from Yukihiro’s shop, but this elegant man in front of them just...didn’t seem to be the type to become an owner of a Doll. He just didn’t look the type. His feature didn’t speak much of kind nature, his aura too sharp, too vivid.

“Which one would you---”

“I come see the Doll created by my family’s ancestor.”

“You mean _this_ Doll...I’ll take you to _him_.”

“Jun, the Silent Doll. The masterpiece of the Hayashi family.”

A masterpiece indeed. Yukihiro thought to himself, but in the mind of many people, Jun was more of a _cursed_ masterpiece.

“Jun is right here.”

Much to Tetsu’s surprise, Yukihiro drew up a thick velvet curtain, revealing a sleeping Doll hidden behind it.

Instantly Tetsu’s breath caught in his throat. He had seen many beautiful Dolls during his time spent in Yukihiro’s company, but this one Doll...Jun, still had something utterly captivating about him. The young man felt like he just couldn’t tear his eyes away--

On the other hand, Yukihiro spoke up, obviously unaffected by the Silent Doll and its charm. "Jun has been here for a long time, but not once did he respond to anyone--"

Yoshiki didn’t seem to pay any attention to what the Shop Owner had to say. Closing the short distance between him and the Silent Doll, he boldly reached out a hand and touched the Doll by the latter’s pinkish cheek.

At first nothing happened, but then Jun slowly opened his eyes.

"He...answers your call!" This time, even Yukihiro was taken aback, losing his calm.

"Of course this Doll would recognize me, a direct descendant of his Creator..."

Yukihiro was stunned, he always knew Yoshiki Hayashi came from a family of famed Doll Makers, but he honestly didn't know one of his ancestors had created this rare Silent Doll.

"The Doll has chosen me," Yoshiki said evenly, a vague hint of smugness in his tone. " Once Jun made his choice, I am within my rights to take him home, right?"

"...you are indeed correct." Yukihiro replied unwillingly.

"There we go." With that Yoshiki bent down slightly to take the blond haired Doll by his hand. When he looked up, the man addressed Yukihiro once again. "Please help picking every necessary items and clothes for my Doll and get them ready. My assistants would come picking them up and hand you the paycheck within an hour."

" As you wish. " Yukihiro replied with cold politeness.

“Is there any other Doll left you had yet to show me?”

Yukihiro shook his head. “All the Dolls in the Shop are right here for you to look at--”

"Not all of them, you’d left this Doll behind." Yoshiki pointed at a particular Doll sitting on the corridor. “Do you think I hadn’t heard the rumors about this incident with this late Doll Maker?”

This time Tetsu was shocked to see Yoshiki pointing at the brown haired Doll who always had his eyes open, staring emptily into space. This man was interested in being introduced to even _this Doll_?

“He--- this Doll isn’t for sell--” Then Yukihiro cut himself short at this point, instead he abruptly turned to Tetsu and said. “Tetsu-san, maybe it’s time for you to go...”

“Oh, alright...?” Tetsu replied confusedly, but he could tell Yukihiro didn't want him to linger any longer. He would better take his leave now. “I’m on my way then...”

With that the blond haired young man picked up his bag and exited from the front door. 

Once Tetsu left the Shop, Yukihiro turned back to his elegant customer, now he could focus on handling Yoshiki when there was no one else here to distract him.

"All the Dolls must choose their owners by their own will--"

" I know the rules as much as you do, my friend." Yoshiki cut him short. " Why don't we hear what this Doll has to say about the matter?"

The frown between Yukihiro's eyebrows deepened, but he indeed knew the rules by heart, there was nothing he could say to counter the other man's words.

There was still one more barrier left to keep Yoshiki from doing what The Shop Owner suspected he wanted to do. It was the fact that this Doll had never said anything in the past, hadn't responded to anyone's words and presence.

Unlike Jun, this Doll had no tie to the Hayashi family, Yoshiki had no natural right over this Doll, unless the Doll chose Yoshiki to be his owner......which wasn't likely to happen, the man literally had no right over the Doll.

With certain steps, Yoshiki made his way to the Doll, bending down to meet the Doll's empty gaze.

Yukihiro could only watch on uneasily as Yoshiki studied the Doll before him, then he smiled and asked the first of his questions slowly.

“Are you in pain?”

***

“So both Dolls were sold?” A few days later, Tetsu asked during his next visit to Yukihiro's shop, he was utterly surprised when he saw the two Dolls were no longer in their usual spots.

“Yes, both were sold.” Yukihiro replied rather dispassionately. Though Tetsu could still sense a drop of worry in his tone. The blond haired man wondered the reason why the Shop Owner would feel this way.

“Two Dolls must cost a fortune! It is good for business, but I notice you don’t look too happy about it.” 

Was it because of this customer, Yoshiki? Tetsu noticed how Yukihiro seemed not wanting to sell his Dolls to this fellow. Was this guy a bad customer? Or was there some personal grudge between these two men?

Yukihiro signed slightly, he didn't expect Tetsu could understand the secrets these two Dolls held and the tragedy from years ago, but he wasn't unwilling to share a few of his worried thoughts with a young man he considered his friend.

“Dolls are always free to choose who they’d go home to, that is how the Dolls work. Still, this time, I am not at all certain it’s best for this pair of Dolls to go with _this man_...”


	3. Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> People always want their happiness to last for an eternity, but they never know there is always a great price to pay for happiness that lasts forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I first wrote this story years ago and now I think the casting looks really random. XD

Part 1

_People always want their happiness to last for an eternity, but they never know there is always a great price to pay for happiness that lasts forever._

_It was a sin called vanity…_

_But no one ever wants to let go…_

“How do you do today, Hide chan?” 

There was no reply to his greeting just as usual. The room remained silent. The man in the room sat perfectly still on his wheelchair, facing the large window motionlessly. On the other hand, being quite familiar with the lack of response from the older man, Aiji moved quietly across the room to open the window, letting some fresh air in.

“ The weather is so fine today…”

Turning back from the window, Aiji took a seat beside the handsome red haired man. Rays of sunlight shone gently upon the older man’s face and his crimson hair, highlighting his remarkable beauty.

Even though now all this man could do was to sit helplessly and motionlessly on a wheelchair, his survival and the maintenance of his daily tasks relied on the help from the others so completely, his presence was still so remarkable that you could hardly ignore him. He was thin but it did not make him look unhealthy or weak. Beneath his bright red long hair, there was the finely shaped figure of his delicate face, with a pair of beautiful eyes that you could easily envision them to be so bright and clear like icy water in the past, before he fell into the depth of his silence.

Even to this day his eyes were still beautiful to look at, though all Aiji could now see in those eyes was emptiness, gazing at the empty space in front of him blankly, like a pair of fine crystal balls. 

“…Hide chan…you had been sitting there all day, right? Jun , Akira and Ryutaro had just gone outside to play not so long ago…So…had you seen them walking past your window then?”

Hide remained as silent as he used to be to Aiji’s questions. No one was sure whether Hide was still able to hear what the others said to him or not in his condition, still Aiji kept going back to hide’s room, talking to the older man as often as he could.

Because since the first time he was taken to this room, Yoshiki had permitted him to visit Hide as long as he was free to go. And the brunette knew that Yoshiki himself also came up to talk to Hide from time to time as well behind locked doors.

However, all he could do in his visits to the red haired man was to make ‘conversations’ that would gain no response from the older man. So basically what he did was merely talking to himself.

Aiji had no idea who Hide was, or why he would be in such a condition, unable to talk or move for all these years. Everything about the red haired was a mystery to him, which he didn’t have the heart and mind to question anyone for an answer. 

Still there was at least one thing about Hide that he could be sure of, whoever Hide was, he must be someone important to Yoshiki. He was sure of this not only because Yoshiki had taken great care for the paralyzed man in every single detail all along, but also because the way Yoshiki acted when he was near Hide, the gentleness and deep affection in his eyes when he looked at the red haired. Aiji had never seen such a look on Yoshiki’s face when he was with other people. 

It didn’t mean Yoshiki was a mean person toward the others. In fact Yoshiki treated everyone nicely and equally, still you could tell that to him, Hide was different from the others.

Besides, Yoshiki also loved to invite children to his mansion as his guests. As a result, it wasn’t unusual for the mansion to be filled with youngsters. There were so many of them that Aiji had long lost count of them…

These children…who were brought to this mansion by Yoshiki or Toshi, they always arrived as a group of three or two together. Yoshiki would let them play and have as much fun as they could under his roof for a period of time. And during this period of time, the quiet mansion came to life with children’s laughter.

Until the children vanished one after another eventually.

Every single one of them disappeared eventually. So this time it’d be the same, right?  
Akira and Ryutaro…they’d also be gone and disappeared one day sooner or later, and never be seen again.

Yes, these two would vanish soon or latter one day, Aiji knew it was going to happen. After that he and Jun would remain in the quiet mansion with Yoshiki for such a long time and their ‘guests’ tended to come and go.

It was something that would happen, nobody could stop this, he had known it all along, still in the back of his mind Aiji still refused to face this fact…

It was true that Aiji like Akira and Ryutaro, liking them for they, like all the other kinds, had something he could never have. Especially Ryutaro, a truly innocent one that didn’t know how to doubt other people…

“Hide chan, you have been sitting there alone all along, what do you have in your mind? would you tell me? Would you feel…lonely, I wonder?”Aiji spoke to his silent companion, but as usual, his questions weren't answered in any manner.

Maybe…hide was the most suitable one to be living in the Hayashi Mansion, the little guests that Yoshiki brought back home just came and gone, season came one after another marking the passing of time. But in this isolated mansion, no matter what had happened, Yoshiki, Toshi, Jun and Aiji himself would be left behind.

Therefore, soon or later, Akira and Ryutaro will vanish, never to be remembered.

And only Hide, who was unable to feel anything, could remain totally untouched by the loss which took place here constantly.

“mumm…mui……mumm…”

The faint sound of a cat’s purring reached his ears, the sound was from outside of the glass window. Aiji had already known that it must be the kitty Rill—Yoshiki’s gift to Jun. But why was she outside?

Out of curiosity, the brunette gazed out of the window, and saw Rill standing outside of the closed window. Seemingly uncertain where she should go…

“Rill…”

Rill’s ears turned, she seemed to have heard his voice.

“Rill…come here…”Aiji opened both the window and his arms for Rill, ready to bring her back in.

But, Rill obviously had something else in her mind.

“Iyaaa---!”  
The kitty jumped to him, but her claws tore the flesh on the back of Aiji’s hand at the same moment. Stunned by the kitty’s attack, Aiji backed away and covered his wounded hand, the wound wasn’t deep but blood still sept between his fingers…

With a puzzled look, he stared at Rill landing on the floor. But the latter only glanced lazily at him for a second longer, then she slipped elegantly out of the room, as though she hadn’t just wounded him seconds ago.

“It’s strange, Hide chan…Rill doesn’t seem to be her normal self…she wasn’t used to be so mean and rough to people…had I done something wrong to her?” He didn’t remember treating Rill poorly before…but there was still a chance for him to have done so without remembering it. He knew how his memory had become since he took residence in Yoshiki’s house… 

Rill’s change of attitude…had started since that day…now Aiji was recalling something…her abnormal behaviors began the day of her return home after being missing for the previous few days. Due to the fact that the cat can’t speak, nobody could find out what had happened to her. So nobody knew why the kitty’s furs would be so stained with blood when she returned to the mansion either. 

To sum up, Rill’s abnormality must have something to do with the event that took place *that day*, he was quite sure of it…since her brief disappearance…Rill was so full of fear and hatred toward people that only Jun was still allowed to touch her… 

“Even if I asked you all these questions, you wouldn't know how to answer, do you, hide chan?” He sighed slightly to himself.

Not only Hide, even if he did mean to find someone to ask the questions, there would be no one he could come upon. Yoshiki and Toshi weren’t going to offer any answer, nor did the maids in the mansion, and Jun simply couldn’t speak.

”…Ita…it is time for me to go I suppose…see you later, Hide chan.” Aiji bowed slightly to the silence one, then moved to the door. But…

“!” He found Yoshiki standing in front of him once the door was opened.

Did the older man just happen to be outside of the room while Aiji was about to leave? Or had he been behind the door and prying all along?

Aiji was filled with dread when the last thought flashed through his mind. He tried to read Yoshiki’s expression but the latter gave nothing away.

No…Yoshiki had no need to pry behind people’s backs. Because nothing happened within this mansion could go unnoticed by its master.

Eventually, Aiji was the one who spoke up first.

“Yoshiki…I had no idea you’d be back so soon…I, I’m sorry…I will be gone now.”

“Why would you apologize to me when you had done nothing wrong at all?” Yoshiki was smiling kindly to him as usual, but there was still a little hint of mockery in his tone. 

“…….”Aiji didn’t reply, he never dared to express himself too openly in Yoshiki’s presence.

Meanwhile, Yoshiki’s attention had turned toward Aiji’s wounded hand. “What happened to your hand?”

“this…it was Rill…because I was too careless… …”

“Then you should go to Toshi immediately for treatment. I won’t be pleased to see you scarred…understood?”

“Yes.”

“It’s upsetting to see scars left on that beautiful skin of yours. You never know how to look after yourself. And it is the only thing about you that would remain unchanged no matter what, isn’t it?”Yoshiki commented, his tone neutral.

“………if there was nothing else for me to handle, may I go now?” Aiji averted his eyes.

Yoshiki nodded, but when Aiji was about to go to the stairs, the older man called out to him again as if recalling something…

”The children will come back soon…so you’d better bring Akira up to the third floor tonight, you know what to do, right?” Yoshiki smiled again, but there was wickedness in the way he eyed the younger one. 

Tonight…it’d be done tonight?

He could believe it, the event would take place so soon…soon Akira was going to...

“I understood, Yoshiki…as your wish.”Aiji nodded weakly to the older man before making his way downstairs.

*****

“I’m so sorry that I’d kept you waiting today…hide, gomen ne…” Yoshiki walked to his lover’ side, bent down to place a soft kiss upon his forehead. Then he pushed the wheelchair to the dressing table before he picked up a wooden comb and started combing the latter’s crimson hair carefully.

“ I still remember I’d always been longing to touch your hair, ever since the first time I saw you…” Upon speaking, a faint little smile bloomed across Yoshki’s face.” This long, bright red hair of yours…so soft and pretty to look at …”

The beautiful crimson of Hide’s hair…which had always stayed in his heart since he first laid eyes on the man and would never go away thereafter….

”And…I also remember…how beautiful your smile used to be ……”Yoshiki continued to comb gently through Hide’s long hair, but his expression slowly turned gloomy, the light was leaving his eyes. “Why you never smile at me again for so long?”

” It was so long ago since the last time I saw you smiling at me…” Yoshiki sighed deeply with sorrow in his voice.

Now Yoshiki had done with hide’s hair, he put the wooden comb down, then wrapped his arms around his beloved’s neck tenderly, buried his face to the thick of his lover's red hair.

” Has it been for too long, long enough for you to forget how to smile again?”

However, hide remained motionless just as always, nor did Yoshiki say anything further. He simply hugged Hide tightly and let himself sink into the unique sense and touch of his only beloved.

The room fell into complete silence again.

After a long period of time, long enough to make people wonder whether the two had turned into two statues, did Yoshiki cock his head from hide’s hair. Almost dreamingly he opened his mouth to ask another question that had never ever been answered. “ Are you still mad at me? Is it the reason? So you refuse to speak to me again, am I right? ”

I knew that you were angry with me. Even though you never utter a word… I knew what was in your mind even without you uttering it… because I was the one who knew you the best, in return you were the only one who understood me the most…

Therefore I also knew that you were the one who would be the most upset to see things turned out as they were now…

You had every right to be mad at me…but I’m paying for my crime already, paying the price heavily enough all these years… was it still not enough to make you forgive me? To forgive my sin? You really couldn’t feel a thing? Really didn’t care how much it hurt me just to watch you with you sitting there so lifelessly, and your face looked empty? How long must you punish me ?

You really weren’t going to forgive me? For the rest of our lives?

”Please…just look at me, look into my eyes like you used to, just for once…look at me…so I can hold on for you …if I weren’t able to stay with you, to hear your voice again, I’d rather die …”

“But…I don’t care whether you forgive me or not. I…I would never let go…I would never let go of you… I’d keep you no matter what. Do you know? I would never let anyone else but me have you…” Yoshiki kneeled before the wheelchair, placing his hands on Hide’s arms.

“Hide kun…there will be one day when everything goes back to what it used to be for the two of us, will it?” The long haired man asked his final question, but his lover’s silence remained unbroken. Yoshiki sighed deeply. His face, which was so used to reflect calmness and strong-will, was now a mask of sadness and loneliness.

****

Ryutaro and his companions were back shortly after Toshi fixed the wound on Aiji’s hand. 

“Akira, please come here.” Aiji stood up and cheered Akira When seeing the latter walking out of the dining room.

“Huh, what do you want?” Akira walked to the taller boy tamely. Having too much of the sweetmeat prepared by the maids, the boy had a very sleepy look on his face. It wasn’t easy to feed the mouths of their little guests and satisfy their endless demands for candies and sweetmeat, still those maids in black dresses and white aprons managed to come up with all kinds of delicious food from the kitchen day after day, just like a magician dragging a rabbit out of an empty hat. 

“You have to come with me…”Aiji spoke to Akira, as if he was replying a line that he’d practiced for many times. “I have…no… _Yoshiki_ has something to show you upstairs…”

“Really?” Akira blinked, thinking that it could only mean that Yoshiki had some gift for him…it must be!

“Shhh,keep your voice down, it’s a secret.” Aiji ordered gently, his lips curled upward nervously.

“Okay, okay!”Akira childishly covered his mouth with his palms ,”I won’t tell anyone.”

But seconds later he hesitated again “but…but…we really don’t need to bring Taro-san along?”

“No need, Yoshiki hadn’t said Taro-san can come along.”Aiji answered his question quickly.

“You sure? But…”

“Don’t worry about Taro-san, Yoshiki’ll bring something else for him later…now come with me.”

Akira was silent for a while, then decided that what Aiji told him did make sense, he nodded and followed Aiji. As the two moved through the passway, Akira asked.”where are we going?”

“To the third floor…”

To the third floor? It was hard for Akira to keep his curiosity under control. He and Ryutaro were allowed to visit almost all the chambers in the mansion freely. But not the third floor. So what would Yoshiki keep for him on this mysterious third floor? it was so very interesting… 

Therefore, the two made their way through the corridor, walking up the stairs quietly, up and up they went until they reached the third floor. Much to Aikira’s disappointment, the third floor was just as ordinary-looking as any other parts of the mansion.

”There we are.” Aiji stopped at the door at the end of the corridor, he picked up a sliver key from his pocket, unlocked the dark wooden door and let the boy in. 

”The present he readied for you is inside….”

There was no lamplight in the room behind the door, all Aikira could see was some vague outlines of different shaded figures.

“Uh…could we turn on the light?” The third floor wasn’t as fun as he imagined, Aikira was a bit scared now. Was it a joke of some sort? He turned his head back toward the direction of the entrance, but---

The wooden door was shut from the outside, blocking all the light out of this dark room. 

Then darkness fell. Darkness, complete darkness.

“Na..Nani…!?”Akira paused for a second, rushing to the closed door, knocking the door loudly as he turned the handle.

“Open up!! What do you think you’re doing?”

But the only answer he got was a blurred noise of a key turning itself quickly in the lock. 

The door was locked.

Outside in the corridor, Aiji turned his back against the door as if fearing that Akira might actually break the door down.

No, the thing he truly was afraid of wasn’t Akira…it was the thing in the room. Because he could be surer than anyone else that a hideous, unspeakable thing was coming out, just behind his back, separated only by the wooden door…and Akira was about to be its sacrifice. 

“Let me out! Open the door! It’s really scary!” Akira continued to scream; his cries and the noise of his fists hitting on the hardwood came out of the room. But no matter how loud he cried, nobody would hear him. 

Yes, nobody…

Expected Aiji…

…make it stop…somebody please do something to make this horrible scream stop! The noise of children screaming, crying and struggling…he could even hear them in his dreams!

“Please…forgive me…”

The noises from behind the wooden door went weaker and finally stopped as Aiji shivered helplessly, then unable to suppress his fear any longer, he ran for the stairs.

Please forgive me…I had no choice…I don’t want to do it to you…but I can’t disobey Yoshiki’s order either… 

But Aiji knew by heart that after what he’d done to so many innocents, there was no way he could find forgiveness.

Because even when Yoshiki was the mastermind behind all these, still he was also guilty, for choosing to ignore those dreadful cries from his victims…

There would be no forgiveness, right?

****

The next morning.

He had no memory of how he managed to go back to his own room, nor how he managed to fall asleep after experiencing such things once again. But when Aiji opened his eyes again, he surely was lying on his own bed. The sun was already shining high above the clear blue sky.

Oh, another day had begun…

It was another ordinary morning within The House of Hayashi, everything was still the same, as if nothing had ever happened.

He knew that he’d got up late because he could hear the maids cleaning the corridor, as usually they wouldn’t do so before breakfast time.

After tidying himself up as usual, Aiji walked down to the living room.

Yoshiki was sitting there, in front of the piano, playing a beautiful yet unfinished melody, as Jun sat quietly beside him on the carpeted floor, watching the older one linking the pieces of melodies together slowly till they reached perfection. 

“You’re late today!”Yoshiki cocked his head up from the music sheets spreading on top of the piano, he smiled to Aiji who was standing by the door.

“Good morning, Yoshiki…”Aiji replied.”And Jun…”

“Come to sit with us would you? Jun looks like he's bored today…it’ll be nice to have you here keeping him company.”

Jun rose before Yoshiki finished talking, walking toward Aiji and hugged him soundlessly without a word.

“Jun, what’s the matter?”

Jun shot his head, eyeing the taller boy steadily with a little pout upon his mouth. Then he laid his head on Aiji's clad chest, without uttering a word. 

“Jun…?”

Before Aiji could say anything more, Ryutaro entered the living room quickly.

“Good morning, everyone!” The boy greeted everyone in the room happily.

“Good morning, Taro chan.” Yoshiki greeted him back.

Then Ryutaro scanned the room, but the one he was looking for wasn’t here. ”Ano…where is Akira?Had you guys seen him?”

“I haven’t seen him today.” Yoshiki answered quietly.”Not all day.”

“Really? So where is he now? He’d promised to keep my company …” Ryutaro murmured to himself, leaving the room to look for Akira elsewhere.

However, everyone in the living room knew that the boy wouldn’t find his playmate.

Perhaps Ryutaro would think it was strange for Akira to leave the mansion without a word, but he couldn’t possibly guess that something terrible had happened to his friend. He would be like so many other children before him, hardly having any second thought to the disappearance of their playmates until it was too late for them. The House of Hayashi was such a safe happyland for them to enjoy, so nothing bad would happen here

None of them had suspected anything, until it was too late. 

This time it would be no difference, a few days later when Akira was still nowhere to be seen, Ryutaro would naturally believe that Akira had returned to his family…

Surely Yoshiki and Aiji had no trouble expecting how Ryutaro would react, probably even Jun had known it too…

Yes, even Jun, who had always been keeping his silence so perfectly, knew what was going on in the household all along.

Questions had always been in Aiji’s mind when it came to Jun. Even Jun never got himself involved with the *events* inside the mansion at any level. He kept his silence, appearing to be almost as motionless as hide. Still deep inside those clear calm-looking eyes of his, Jun knew what was going on, only that he chose not to put his hands on any of the matters.

Wrapping his arms around Jun gently, Aiji settled himself and the dark haired boy on the sofa near the piano. At that point Yoshiki was so deep inside his own world with his beautiful music that the older man seemed to forget the two boy’s presence in the room. 

“Jun…” The brunette whispered near Jun’s ears.

”Sometime I think…you are...”

Jun never mentioned anything, never spoke a word to anything which took place under this roof…and never did anything to prevent anything from happening…all he had ever done was to stand aside and watch…it was really…

it was really cunning…and cruel, in a sense.

Jun, you’re cruel deep down your heart too…just the same like me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you think?


	4. Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> To this day, they still had no idea whether their son had ran away on his own, or was kidnapped or worse, murdered. He just disappeared into the thin air it seemed, leaving nothing behind. Neither his remains nor any of his belongings had been recovered. 
> 
> No matter how many times the police had searched the woods and wastelands nearby, leaving not a stone unturned; no matter how carefully they were to send divers down to the lakes or rivers nearby…still they came up with nothing. The boy seemed to just disappear into the thin air, or being swallowed by the earth, and could no longer be found. 
> 
> They found nothing, not even a single piece of the remains of the missing person.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A new chapter, hope you like it!

Part 2

A funeral ceremony was taking place inside a funeral house in a small town by the end of springtime…

In the main hall of the funeral house, the guests were paying their last respect to the dearly departed one. According to the large black and white photo hanging on the wall taking a center place in the hall, the person who had passed away was a teenage boy who could not be older than eighteen years old……

Sadness hung heavily over the gathered crowd, as with suspicion and doubts.

A fine wood coffin was placed beneath the large black and white photo on the wall, but the lid was shut tight, and there was nothing within it.

_The coffin was empty._

The guests could not stop murmuring among themselves, with doubt and uneasiness in their low voices.

“….the body is never found…”

“How could it be?…what had truly happened? Does anyone know?”

“Because the remains are never found, so the family can only host the funeral with an empty coffin…” 

“...what…such an unfortunate thing!!”

“But……the boy has been missing for a year already, there is almost no chance for him to still be alive…right?”

“People said that the boy…was kidnapped then killed or something…”

“…it’s not likely the case! His family had received no threat note, no blackmail phone call and the like all along!!”

“ Then perhaps the kid had an accident outdoors? Is that still possible?”

“ But we had already turned the wood nearby upside down after he was reported missing…divers were also sent to the bottoms of the nearby rivers and lakes too, but still nothing comes up!!”

“like I’d said before…the whole event looks very creepy to begin with…”

“…probably you’re right…but… the Ishikawa couple…their boy just disappears like this …poor them!”

“Right…I wonder why such a thing could happen to them all of the sudden…”

People continued to whisper to each other in a low volume as the Ishikawa couple kept quiet, standing beside the empty coffin for their son, alone and isolated from the rest of the guests.

They were too tired and exhausted to care what other people had to say about them and the misfortunate that befallen their family.

All the couple needed to remember was that none of the guests here had tried to comfort nor offer some help when they were worn to their bones desperately looking for their missing son.

No one.

At first when the missing case went public, people did pity the Ishikawa couple, but as time went by. People slowly became aloof toward them as irresponsible rumors about the Ishikawa family began to spread among the town …

But these kinds of unhappiness could be buried in the past now, the couple had been in pain for too long and it made them numb since the day their son went out of their house and never returned. Now they couldn't care less what the others thought about them…

They had lost their child…

The child who had suddenly disappeared on a fine spring day a year ago.

They were left behind in an empty house that no one would return to.

To this day, they still had no idea whether their son had ran away on his own, or was kidnapped or worse, murdered. He just disappeared into the thin air it seemed, leaving nothing behind. Neither his remains nor any of his belongings had been recovered. 

No matter how many times the police had searched the woods and wastelands nearby, leaving not a stone unturned; no matter how carefully they were to send divers down to the lakes or rivers nearby…still they came up with nothing. The boy seemed to just disappear into the thin air, or being swallowed by the earth, and could no longer be found. 

They found nothing, not even a single piece of the remains of the missing person.

Shortly afterward, police had to call off the investigation. And without further evidence to solve the mystery. The event became just one more unsolved missing person case among the thousands others, with hardly any attention being paid by the public. Nobody seemed to believe that the boy might still be alive.

Eventually, even the parents gave up their hope.

They gave up, acknowledged the fact that their child would never return home, and they hosted a funeral ceremonial to mourn him… 

****

“Thank you very much for attempting the ceremonial…”  
The ceremonial was closed to an end. The couple bowed to each guest who was about to leave and personally saw all of them off. It was Mrs. Ishikawa who noticed the two black figures standing at the far end of the hall when it was nearly empty.

She focused her sight on them a little harder to find that she was looking at a pair of teenage boys who seemed to be around the same age with her lost son.

“Aunt Ishikawa…” The boy with a shot of light brown hair greeted her shyly.

“Pardon? May I know your name…?”

there was a tiny piece of memory twisting in Mrs. Ishikawa’s mind, this boyish voice sounds strangely familiar to her ears, but her sad-numbed brain refused to recognize who the boys were.   
The brown hair boy answered her question. ”We’re your nephews. Do you remember?”

It took Mrs. Ishikawa a few more seconds to break her silence, hesitatingly. “Are you…the boys from the Murata family…and you must be Kohta, right?”

The latter nodded with agreement.

“Yes, we haven’t been seeing each other for too long, Aunt.” The older one in the two, the one with dark raven hair now began to speak too. “I’m Kirito, still remember?”

“…Yes…it has been long…since we saw each other for the last time.” No one could even expect that the next time all of them came together would be at Takeo’s ‘funeral’…

The Murata family was a distant relative to the Ishikawa household. They had developed a close relationship due to the fact that the two families had been living in the same small town for years. It was only natural for the second generation of the families to become close friends too… 

The three of them had grown up in the town together, used to be inseparable in their childhood until the Murata family moved away from town after their children finished primary school. Still Mrs. Ishikawa knew Takeo kept contact with his dear friends through letters, and vowed that one day he’would go to visit his friends when the school ends…

Takeo…your dearest friends had come back to see you eventually…why…why didn’t you come back to us too?

“We are sorry, Aunt…we’re late for the…huh…ceremonial…”Kohta spoke up uneasily.

Ceremonial….?

He was right…here it was this funereal ceremonial for her son…

“No need to apologize. You two had always been Takeo’s best friends…if my son could know that you are here for him, he would have been so happy.” The reply came with a sad small voice.  
“Demo…”

“You don’t have to explain,” Mrs. Ishikawa said softly.“and it is already late, let's take a rest in our house first before we talk any further, okay?”

“ Is that okay to --?”

” It doesn’t matter…nothing matters…anymore…” Her voice broke as her eyes moved aimlessly from the boys to an invisible point in the void.

”It hurts…it hurts to have things ended this way, but the funeral for him is finished now …it took us so long to reach here…everything is over…it’s just over…” Whimpering weakly to herself, the sad woman suddenly turned her back to the Murata brothers and slowly walked away, losing miserably in her own thought.

Seeing Mrs. Ishikawa like this, the siblings quickly exchanged a look before following their Aunt. None of them tried to speak to her again. Maybe they feared that if they disturbed the grieving mother any further, she might be broken into pieces. 

What would be left for this heart broken couple when everything was over?

Nothing. They were afraid.

***

There were only three people sitting around a set of sofas inside the living room of Ishikawa household. Mrs Ishikaw, Kirito and Kohta. For half of the time they simply sat there wordlessly, deep in their own thoughts. They did have a topic in common but none of them seemingly wanted to bring it up just yet. The name of this topic was: Takeo.

It was a topic that none of them wanted to bring up too lightly.

“Where is Uncle anyway?” Kirito scanned the room quickly but their uncle, Mr. Ishikawa was nowhere to be seen.

“He went back to our room to take a rest, your Uncle isn’t feeling well recently. The whole event has worn him, and he isn’t in good condition at all …” Mrs. Ishikawa lowered her head.

“Err…I…gomen ne, Aunt.” Kirito realized his question must have upset his aunt. Feeling guilty, he uttered an apology.

Although the brothers had previously prepared themselves, nonetheless they were still surprised to find the house so empty and quiet, so lifeless and cold on this late spring day…without Takeo’s presence, now this place was nothing like the warm household they used to remember. They could tell that nothing would ever be the same again. 

“Aunt Ishikawa…” in order to change the subject a little, Kohta coughed. “May we go upstairs to Takeo’s bedroom for a little while?”

“His…bedroom? Oh just help yourself please. We haven’t touched anything inside for long…maybe you’ll find some little things to remember him by up there… … …”

With that Mrs. Ishikawa rose herself up to lead the boys to the corridor, then all the way to the stairs. It seemed she had completely forgotten that Murata brothers had once been regular visitors to her household, and naturally enough they knew all too well where to go to Takeo’s room. 

Nevertheless, they began to climb the stairs up to the second floor. But suddenly Mrs. Ishikawa called out for them. “---just wait a second---”

The siblings stopped and turned back to face their aunt as if in union.

“Ano…one more thing…I noticed that it was quite late now. You two would better stay here tonight. I’ll tidy up the guest room for you, alright?”

“ Of course, Aunt. Thanks a lot.”

”Sorry for troubling you so much, Aunt.”

****

The last rays of sunlight had gone out of the second floor already when the boys reached there, leaving Kirito and Kohta no other choice but to feel their way toward Takeo’s room in the murky corridor. 

The first thing they did once they opened the door to Takeo’s bedroom was to turn on the light, soon the small bedroom was bathed by the dim yellow lamplight, an empty room which its master might possibly never return to.

The room was so filled with the sickening smell of dust that Kohta had to make his way quickly toward the window and opened it, in order to bring some fresh air in.

There were several photo frames on Takeo’s desk, Kirito picked up one of them for a better look. It was the picture of a far more boyish vision of him, Takeo and Kohta all three of them together within the photo. Seemingly the picture was taken at the period of their primary school day, probably shortly before the Maruta family left town. They all looked so young and carefree in the picture, unaware of the great change that was about to come in the future…unaware of the fact that they were about to part.

“Takeo…has always been the same…still treasuring a picture such as this…”He murmured to himself as he placed the framed photo back into place carefully. And Kohta thought that he’d heard a hint of sadness and loneliness within his brother’s tone.

Then Kirito’s attention turned from Takeo’s desk back to his younger brother, who was sitting at the end of the bed nearby with a lost look on his face. There was a book, or something like a book the older one had never seen before on Kohta’s hands…

“What do you have here??” He asked Kohta curiously.

“Errr…it’s nothing, I just happened to pick this thing up from the bookcase when I was thinking about Takeo….i think it’s some kind of sketchbook.” Kohta explained while handing the book to Kirito.

Kirito looked down at the book’s cover, he faintly remembered Takeo had mentioned he was learning how to sketch in some of his letters. Now it seemed that his interest in sketching had lasted longer than Kirito had realized. The drawings in the sketch book were good. Maybe even brilliant for a beginner. Kirito thought as he skimmed through page after page. There was nothing out of the ordinary in these sketches, most of Takeo’s drawing was still life or ordinary landscapes which could be found in and around their town, nothing unusual.

But he found something strange at the very last few pages of this sketch book. Takeo had drawn something he couldn’t recall seeing them from around the town…and it aroused Kirito’s curiosity in an unexpected way.

There was something, or rather, places that he had never seen in or near the town…

A strange hillside footpath cutting through a misty woodland…

A dark lake in the middle of an unknown foggy pine woods…and a vague figure of a building standing at the edge of the lake, surrounded by the pale fog.

Then he found something even more surprising in the final page of the notebook.

The final drawing by Takeo, was also a black and white sketch. The background of it was still the same foggy pine woods, but at the center of the drawing, there was a huge western style mansion, which was described with fine details under Takeo’s pencil. 

A western style mansion?

How would Takeo come up with such a thing? He might well be drawing some Japanese traditional style of mansion which could be found in the same area. But to his knowledge, there wasn’t any western style mansion like this in the countryside…

“Hey Kohta, had you seen a house such as this when we were living in the town back then?” Kirito pointed at the painting.   
Kohta studied the painting carefully for a while before answering the question. “I have never seen a house like this. Have you?” 

“if I had seen them before, what’s the point of me asking you?.” Kirito snapped back half-heartedly.

“ Probably this house is just Takeo’s creation…so it simply doesn’t exist in reality. See? There is such a surreal aura surrounding the painting…”

but Kohta did point out the truth…this particulate drawing had nothing familiar with the rest of the ordinary sketching Takeo had drawn. This was something surreal, fantasy-like within the drawing that made this picture remarkable among all the others, but still Kirito couldn’t bring himself to believe it came from Takeo’s original creativity…

A mansion in the mist….

It seemed that he had heard about the place(or had he seen the place actually with his own eyes?)

There was like a deja vu when he first laid eyes on this drawing, as if he had seen the seascape back then. Why did this mansion and the woods look so familiar to him?

At that point Kohta’s voice broke his train of thought.

“Oni, look!”

“What’s the matter?”

“Takeo had marked the date here…”Kohta pointed at the left hand corner of the paper.

“he finished the painting the day today one year ago…...”

At that point, the two siblings cocked their head and cried out in surprise as if in union. 

“The day before Takeo disappeared!!”

****

They spent the night inside the guest room. Actually, they had been using this same room for a good couple of times back then while visiting Takeo’s family in the past. Naturally, the siblings slept together like they had used to because there was only one bed in the room. They were familiar with such a situation and everything inside the room remained just the same. Still the undeniable fact was, the two of them were no longer children, and now sleeping together felt quite different compared to the past as two small children. With their back toward each other, the brothers couldn’t stop noticing how small this bed seemed to be with two people on it…

“Hey…Kirito…”Kohta suddenly started whispering to his brother.” You haven’t slept yet?”

“Yeesss…..you have something to say?”

“Nothing… I had just realized….we hadn’t been sleeping together for long.”

“Had been years already, right?” Kirito murmured in response. 

“Hey…Kirito nichan…”

“Nani?”

“ I’d overheard what Father said to Mother a few days ago…he said he want *you* to go with him when he separates with Mother……”

“Huh, he did say such a thing before …”

”So…we won’t see each other again, right?”

“What?” Kohta’s words unnerved Kirito utterly, he rolled around to face his younger brother, but Kohta’s back was still toward him and the latter seemed to have no desire to face him now.

“I mean…if it were decided that our parents are to raise us separately, there’s no way we can say no…”

“Don’t worry too much.” Kirito tried to calm his brother down. He could imagine how worried Kohta was. But there was nothing else he could say because he was just as clueless as the younger one about their future.” You can look after yourself well enough even without me, right?”

“I…I don’t know…”

“So just take it easy…just for tonight…there is nothing to worry about.”

“No…I…I don’t want to leave you …”

“So what? We can still see each other now and then even we can no longer live in the same house! Remember?” 

“it’s true…but…once we are no longer together …you will have your own new life! You will surely soon…soon forget about me…

“Stop it Kohta. Am I really looking like such a brat to forget my own kid brother?” Kirito didn’t like where this conversation was going at all.

“No…It isn’t what I mean!”

“ Then put your mind at rest for a while, Kohta. No matter what happens in the future, the fact that you’re the only little brother I have, does it make you feel better?”

Kirito thought Kohta would have something to say in response to his words, but the latter made no response at all. The older one waited for about ten minutes in the dark, but the silence remained. Eventually Kirito figured that his brother might probably have gone to sleep already. With that thought in his mind, slowly he sank to the land of slumber as well.


	5. Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ”No one has ever found it, Kirito. We only have myths and rumors. You both know I was born in this town, right? I had heard about the rumors of that House of Mannequins when I was just a little girl. But as time passed the rumors died down bit by bit, it has been more than 10 years since I last heard about the House…”
> 
> Then the memory came back to her, when Mrs. Ishikawa remembered when she was little girl, adults would warn the children: _don’t go to the woods at the other side of the Lake, don’t go near the mansion called the House of Mannequins, because there is a man-eating monster in that House…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: previously I noted that it's better for readers to read the sequel to better understand this story, but now I am not so sure any more. Lol
> 
> Plus my English has just gone straight to hell, sorry!

The Next Day.

“Kohta, wake up.”

Kohta was awakened by his brother’s calling, slowly he opened his eyes, the image of his older brother slowly came into focus, the latter was sitting at the edge of the bed, already washed and changed.

“Rise and shine, bro.” Kirito told him. “Aunt and Uncle have already been up, we can’t keep them waiting.”

Outside of the window, the sun was shining bright.

“Okay...”Kohta murmured a reply, rolling himself out of bed before going to the bathroom to fresh up before going downstairs to greet their Uncle and Aunt. 

After that…the youth thought impassively, after having breakfast it would be the time for him and Kirito to leave town and returned to their parents’ house, which also meant returning to the rather unpleasant reality they lived in.

***

While making their way downstairs, Kohta couldn’t stop himself from asking. “Are we really leaving today?”

“Sure..” Failing to notice the younger boy’s gloomy mood, Kirito replied with a nod. “With a circumstance such as this, we can’t linger for too long, right?”

“...You are right.”Kohta had no other choice but to agree, but seconds later he noticed the object Kirito had been carrying with him.

“You---you are bringing Takeo’s sketchbook with you?” Kohta was startled, he couldn’t understand his older brother’s intention.

“Yup.” Kirito replied simply. ”I just want Aunt to take a look at it.”

“Why would you want her to see this? Maybe she---” Kohta’s voice tranced off to nothing, he was worried their Aunt would react badly when she was confronted with a belonging of her beloved, missing son.

“Don’t worry.” This time Kirito shook his head“ I only want to find out more about the House in Takeo’s sketch, maybe Aunt knows something about it?” 

“But…”

Kirito obviously wasn’t listening to Kohta’s words, so the latter could only follow him into the dinning room.

When they arrived, their Aunt...Mrs. Ishikawa had already set up breakfast for four people. She was sitting on one of the chairs, waiting for her nephews. However, her husband, Mr. Ishikawa, was still nowhere in sight. 

The brothers greeted their Aunt and took their seats around the table. Out of politeness, they didn’t comment on the absence of their Uncle. After seeing their Aunt’s worn smile when she mentioned her husband last night, the pair no longer had the heart to ask after the head of the Ishikawa household.

After everyone finished with their breakfast, Kohta watched, with raising uneasiness, as Kirito left his seat and moved to where their Aunt was sitting.

“Aunt, may I ask you to take a look at this?” He brought up Takeo’s sketchbook as he spoke, opening it in front of his Aunt. “Do you...happen to know anything about this location?”

At first, Mrs. Ishikawa stared at the sketches before her blankly. “What is this? Where did you find it?”

“We found it in Takeo’s room.” Kirito explained to the older woman, then he turned the pages to let his Aunt have a better look, eventually he turned the last page, revealing the sketch of the mysterious mansion shrouded in the mist. 

”Aunt, have you seen this house before? Perhaps somewhere around here? ” After a long moment of Mrs. Ishikawa’s silence, Kirito asked again.

“What house? I have no idea Takeo had drawn something like this...” The older woman murmured, her eyes never leaving the sketch of this mysterious house before her, then she sighed. “I don’t think I have ever seen this house before.”

Aunt knew nothing about this house? Takeo had never said anything about it in front of his parents? So the last hope was also gone by now. Although Kirito had always known the chance of finding any lead was slim to begin with, still he couldn’t help but feeling disappointed. 

When he was about to give up, he heard a gasp from Mrs. Ishikawa. 

“I...this is the _House_ \----”

Instantly both Kirito and Kohta focused all their attention on their Aunt, waiting for her to continue. However, Mrs. Ishikawa’s words stopped dead, as if she was about to say something but was thinking the better of it. Kirito was sure his Aunt must recall something! 

At long last, Mrs. Ishikawa whispered, her voice barely audible.

“......the House of Mannequins...”

“House of Mannequins? What’s that?” The name sounded so weird, it almost sounded like some kind of a doll house, but what did a doll house have to do with this mystery?

“Do you remember something, Aunt? Had you seen this mansion before?” Kirito pushed a little.

Mrs. Ishikawa answered. “No, I haven’t seen this House before, but I did see a drawing with the House in it...“

“Do you know where it really is?”

”No one has ever found it, Kirito. We only have myths and rumors. You both know I was born in this town, right? I had heard about the rumors of that House of Mannequins when I was just a little girl. But as time passed the rumors died down bit by bit, it has been more than 10 years since I last heard about the House….”

Then the memory came back to her, when Mrs. Ishikawa remembered when she was little girl, adults would warn the children: _don’t go to the woods at the other side of the Lake, don’t go near the mansion called the House of Mannequins, because there is a man-eating monster in that House…_

”I don’t remember who had showed me the drawing, or when. It was so long ago...but I remember, supposedly there used to be a mansion deep in the woods, people called it the House of Mannequins. It is the family mansion of a respected household, a family named Hayashi or perhaps Shida. I’d heard people mentioning the House for a few times, but I have never seen this House before, nor I know anyone who had once seen it...”

“It is a mansion that no one has seen before...?”

“Yes.” Mrs. Ishikawa closed her eyes. “All the rumors about this House, none of them are of anything positive. So you boys better don’t be too curious about it.” 

The expression on their Aunt’s face was enough to prevent the Murata brothers from asking more questions, even when unspoken questions were still bubbling up in their minds. 

Still, why would Takeo sketched down this mythical House when even his own mother had allegedly forgotten about its existence? 

What did it all mean?

Eventually Kirito closed the sketch book, and asked. “Aunt, would you mind I bring this sketch book with me?”

“No. I guess Takeo would have been happy to see you have it.” Mrs. Ishikawa replied softly.

After breakfast, the brothers said their farewell to their Aunt at the front door of the Ishikawa household. “Goodbye, Aunt. Thank you for looking after us.” 

“Don’t mention it. Do you want me to walk you to the station?” Mrs. Ishikawa asked.

“No need, we can go by ourselves...don’t you worry!”

With their backpacks ready, Kirito told his younger brother. “Let’s go.”

Soon the pair was on their way.

****

The brothers didn’t speak again on their way leaving the town. On their way to the bus station, they found threads of milky mist slowly rolling from the tops of the hills all the way to the valley, swallowing everything at its path. 

The pair was at the very outskirts of the town when Kohta recalled something out of the blue and asked. “Father and Mother, have they phoned you?”

Kirito fished his cellphone from his pocket, taking a glance at the screen, he didn’t find any missed call or unread message.

”They haven’t contacted me.” 

Perhaps their parents, still locked in a bitter battle of divorce, had failed to wonder how their sons were doing. After all, the brothers had always been able to look after themselves. 

“Good.” After hearing the answer to his own question, Kohta didn’t look upset, instead he gave a casual remark, as if their parents’ aloofness didn’t bother him.”....better this than listening to their brawls.”

For an instant Kirito didn’t know how to reply. It was the first time he heard his baby brother expressing his displeasure toward their parents. After a pause, the older boy whispered. “Perhaps you’re right.”

Shortly afterward when they were about to reach the bus station outside of the town, Kirito said something out of the blue. “What do you think about all these?”

“What are you talking about?” Puzzled, Kohta answered with a question of his own. 

“I’m talking about that House of Mannequins mentioned by our Aunt, and Takeo’s disappearance, what do you think? I believe Aunt must know something more about that House, but she didn’t mention them in front of us. It is as if she doesn’t want to tell us too much---“  
“Can we not talk about it?!” Kohta replied unhappily. Takeo’s disappearance and his sketchbook and those words from his Aunt’s mouth, the House of Mannequins, all of them had unsettled him greatly. The whole topic about the House felt like it was something which shouldn’t even be spoken of.

Although Kohta did agree Aunt must hold something back this morning when she talked to them about the House, unlike Kirito he didn’t have any intention to dig any deeper into the mystery. Out of instinct, Kohta could sense something dangerous lurking beneath the surface when this mysterious House of Mannequins was concerned. 

On the other hand, Kohta’s concern wasn’t shared by his older brother. “How can you be so unconcerned? Takeo has been missing, before he vanished the last thing he drew is this ‘House of Mannequins! Don’t you think there must be some connection?”

“But we had spent more than ten years living in this area! Had you forgotten this, Kirito? Yet neither of us had seen any mansion at the other side of the Lake!” 

Kohta walked faster, trying to keep up with his brother, who was now walking ahead of him. They should go to the bus station and wait for the bus to arrive, right? So why would Kirito just keep walking forward instead of stopping? As if he had some other destination else in his mind? All around them, the fog became thicker and whiter, making it difficult for Kohta to see things. This thick great fog that came out of nowhere...now it almost felt abnormal...as if it was enchanted to keep people from finding their way... 

Fortunately before Kohta could panicked, Kirito slowed down enough to come to a stop, now he stood on the middle of the road, staring at the spreading white fog before him. Kohta didn’t know what his brother was staring at, even when he stood next to the older boy, all he could see was the greyish white fog. 

Kirito didn’t look his brother’s way even after the latter caught up with him, as if he wasn’t aware of Kohta’s presence anymore. Kohta spoke up again, trying one more time to convince his older brother to let go of his strange suspicion. “There is nothing for us to find, Nii-chan. Aunt told us the police and the local people had already searched the Lake and the nearby woods, still nothing had been recovered. This House of Mannequins must be some local Haunted House urban legend. It just doesn’t exist! It has to be---”

“I know our Aunt and Uncle have given up, but...if this House of Mannequins doesn’t exist, then would you tell me...”Kirito exclaimed, one of his arms shot up, pointing his finger at something which Kohta had yet to notice. ”then tell me...what exactly is this?” 

Kohta’s gaze followed the direction pointed out by his brother, then he blinked, taking a few steps forward to take a better look, then he finally saw what his older brother was trying to get him to look at. 

The main road the brothers were on, was the only road through the woods and the hills. There should be no forked roads leading to other places. Despite knowing this fact by heart, the Murata brothers still found themselves staring up at the impossible: right next to the main road, now there was a footpath appearing among the bushes and the tangling branches, a footpath which both of them had never seen nor noticed before, a narrow footpath which logically shouldn’t even be _here_. 

But now the footpath was very much _here_ , in front of them, and it looked exactly the same as one of the sketches in Takeo’s sketchbook, on the page before the missing boy drew down the mysterious western style mansion in the mist. 

To be continued.


	6. Part 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ”Someone is…coming…going here…” The sleeping youth whispered under his breath.”…but……can’t see, who it is…………”
> 
> Then the youth went completely silent.

Part 4

It was noon time but the weather had already turned chilling. Dark gray rain clouds hung heavy and low above the hilltops, with threads of mist rolling down from the pine woods all the way down to the lake, indicating a storm was coming. 

Toshi, the butler of the Hayashi household, discovered a figure under a tree when he was patrolling in the mansion’s garden. The butler walked toward the tree, when he walked closer he could finally see who was there. 

Turned out it was only Aiji, leaning against the base of a tree trunk, fast asleep. The sleeping youth sat quietly beneath the shadow of the trees, he was so still it looked like he wasn’t even breathing.

Toshi had no idea why the youth had still gone outside under such weather, but the older man didn’t think much further. He bent down next to the sleeping youth, still the latter showed no sign of waking up. Toshi simply gathered the lithe youth up, preparing to carry him back to the mansion before the storm hit.

“……huh...”

Out of the blue, the supposedly sleeping youth made a sound, Toshi stopped and looked down at the boy in puzzlement. Was the boy talking in his sleep or……?  
“……two people……”  
Toshi looked down, finding Aiji still having his eyes shut tight, but his lips were moving to form words. The voice coming past those pale lips wasn’t the youth’s usual voice, but something deeper and more morbid, as if it was a voice from the endless void itself. 

”Someone is…coming…going here…” The sleeping youth whispered under his breath.”…but……can’t see, who it is…………”

Then the youth went completely silent.

Hearing Aiji’s ambitious words, Toshi was puzzled, first of all _no one_ had ever managed to _come_ to this mansion by themselves, all of their guests were _brought_ here, none of them had ever managed to finding their way here. There was no other way for an outsider to approach the Hayashi household other than being _invited_ here.  
He must report this incident to Yoshiki later, Toshi made up his mind, Yoshiki had to be informed of any unusual thing happening within or without this mansion. His duty was to keep the Hayashi household functional, so that every detail would continue to work smoothly within this mansion. The way that Yoshiki would prefer, error or mistake wasn’t really tolerated.

After spending years living in the Hayashi mansion, Toshi sometimes thought he had become part of this House. As though the House was a massive, organic living being and this being had greedily devoured him whole, digesting him right down to the tiny bites and pieces, consuming his lifeblood so his energy would become part of this mansion. Therefore he couldn’t leave this manion, for his fate had long tied together with it, or perhaps it was the karma he had created for himeslf? For his sin of creating this accused building which many had entered but could never leave.

This House, originally built by the ancestors of the Hayashi clan, then it underwent a grand transformation, being redesigned and reconstructed under his hands: a _rebirth_. It was a house of taboo and darkness, Toshi’s masterpiece as an architect, although it was a masterpiece which most of the general public would never ever set their eyes upon. 

However, Toshi the architect was long dead, the one who had survived was Toshi, the loyal butler to the Hayashi household……  
He’d given up his future, cut ties with his past, but Toshi didn’t regret his own decisions, because Yoshiki had once saved him from certain death, and as a repayment, he would stay loyal to the beautiful current patriarch of the Hayashi clan, he would stay loyal to the very end if it meant keeping the family’s many secrets safe.

No…perhaps it was destiny, everything had been decided for him from the very beginning, from the moment Yoshiki showed him the forbidden room and let him see the hidden secrets with his own eyes……No, perhaps it was the moment when he first set foot in the Hayashi Mansion, it was all _fated_. Yes, it must be. 

How many years had passed since then? 

Years ago Toshi was a newbie architect, an up-and-comer, his name had just begun to be recognized by his peers, then one day he received an unusual proposal. In the invitation he’d received, his potential client, a man called Yoshiki Hayashi, expressed that he very much appreciated the bold creativity and the elegant style Toshi had demonstrated in his previous projects. Therefore Mr. Hayashi would like to invite Toshi to visit his grand family mansion and take charge of said mansion’s reconstruction project. Yoshiki claimed there was no limitation for the budget of said reconstruction project, and once the project was completed, Toshi would receive a handsome payment for his work. 

However, Mr. Hayashi set up three conditions: Toshi himself must stay in the Hayashi Mansion through the project, in order to oversee the reconstruction from start to end, during his stay in the Mansion, all of his living expenses would be covered by the Hayashi household. Secondly, Toshi must fulfill his client’s every request as best he could as an architect, regardless of how outlandish or challenging said requests might be. Thirdly, Toshi must swear into secrecy, he wasn’t allowed to talk about his experience with any third party, nor was he allowed to record or write down the things he had ever seen or heard during his time in the Hayashi Mansion, and made them public. 

These conditions were an unusual and tough one, yet on the other hand, the contact with Mr. Hayashi provided nearly unlimited resources, a rare chance to boost up his career and the freedom to do as he pleased as an architect. Therefore it didn’t take long for Toshi to sign the contract, pick his things and ready for the trip to the remote Hayashi household. 

When he first set on the trip, Toshi couldn’t never predict at the end of his journey, his life as he knew it would be turned upside down, his reality would be devoured by a beautiful nightmare ……even he himself would also be trapped in the nightmarish world he helped to create, unable to flee ……

***

In one sunny day from long, long ago, Toshi stood at the top of a hill, overlooking the spreading hills and the deep sapphire-blue lake at the bottom of the valley. In that valley, there was a small village on one side of the lakeshore, across the lake, there was oneBaroque-style huge mansion built by deep red bricks, instantly Toshi knew it must be the Hayashi Family’s mansion.  
The Mansion stood alone at the far side of the lake, surrounding by a pine woods. There was no other building in the woods. Toshi recalled learning from one of Mr. Hayashi’s previous letters that his ancestors had long purchased the large piece of land around the Mansion to enable the Family to live peacefully, unaffected by the peeping eyes of the general public. 

The hired vehicle had taken Toshi all the way from Tokyo to this countryside where the Hayashi Family lived. Now, the hired vehicle had left and Toshi, seeing that the weather was fine, decided to take a walk down the village, there was a small wooden dock at the edge of the lake, the Hayashi Family had arranged a boat to take him from there across the lake to the Mansion.

Seemingly there hadn’t been many visitors in this community, Toshi attracted a lot of curiosity from the villagers, when he passed, many villagers would stop at their tasks and ask him where he was going. Toshi answered them one by one. However, once those village folks learned that he was going to the Hayashi mansion, their attitude changed from friendliness and curiosity to alert and worry, soon all of them would suddenly recall they had something else to do instead of chatting with a stranger, and quickly fleeded, leaving a very confused Toshi behind. 

By now Toshi couldn’t help but feeling among the villagers, the Hayashi Mansion was some kind of a taboo, but...why? 

Feeling uncertain, Toshi walked up to the small dock at the edge of the village, a small speedboat was already there, it had to be the boat sent by the Hayashi household. Toshi walked down the dock, he noticed there was a gloomy looking man sitting at the back of the speedboat--it had to be the boatman.

The boatman in question soon noticed Toshi’s presence, he stepped up to the dock, bowing to the architect in a stern manner before taking Toshi’s luggage and guiding the latter to the speedboat. After everything was settled, the boatman started the engine and the boat speeded forward. He didn’t speak during the trip across the lake. 

About 15 minutes later, the gloomy looking boatman moored the speedboat at the dock at the lakeshore, just a short walk away from the Hayshi Mansion. The boatman once again took Toshi’s luggage and guided him toward first through a large garden full of fallen red leaves then eventually to the Mansion itself .

The front doors of the Mansion were, surprisingly, made of dark iron, The boatman gripped hold of an iron ring on the door then started knocking. The noise of iron banging against iron echoed off the cold air. Finally the pair of doors---they somehow reminded Toshi of a pair of prison gate---were slipped open slowly. At first all the architect could see was dimness beyond this pair of doors, then as his eyes adjusted more to the poor lighting, he could finally manage to see a long corridor stretching to what appeared to be a grand hall. The interior of the Mansion was only lit by a few lamplights on the darkened walls.

While Toshi was still struggling to get a better look at his surroundings, an aged female voice called out to him. 

“Welcome to the Hayashi Mansion, Mr. Deyama .” 

‘Toshimitsu Deyama ’ was Toshi’s full name, the architect was taken aback, he looked around himself and finally managed to find where the female voice came from: it was a gray-haired old woman in a formal suit for the rank of butler, who had appeared behind him soundlessly, Toshi didn’t even know when did she arrive. The dark colored long skirt she wore almost made her part of the shadows within the mansion.

“Please follow me.” The old woman, she must be the chief housekeeper, or the butler of this household, she spoke impassively. “The Master is waiting for you. ”

Toshi nodded before following the old woman inside. Once the iron doors were closed behind him, even the fading daylight from the outside world could no longer reach the inside of the Mansion. They walked past the heavily carpeted corridor and then the old woman guided him through one of the doors made of mahogany.

He went into what appeared to be a living room, the lighting inside was as dim as the corridor, in this living room he found a young man--about the same age with Toshi--sitting comfortably on one of the majestic rich red velvet sofas. The young man’s eyes were downcast, his face half hidden by his rich locks of brown gold curling hair. This elegant face showed barely a hint of emotion, yet there was a sense of aloneness lingering around this young man. Perhaps this was the Master’s son...no, probably his grandson. 

The young man soon noticed Toshi’s arrival, he stood from his seat, walking toward his guest and greeted him. “Welcome to the Hayashi mansion, Mr. Deyama. I’m Yoshiki Hayashi, the current owner of this household. ”

Toshi was startled, he thought ‘Yoshiki Hayashi’ was some eerie rich old man living alone in a remote mansion, he couldn’t have imagined the man in question was a young person in just his middle or late twenty, a man with such outstanding appearance. 

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Hayashi…” He returned the greeting before taking a seat opposite of his client. ”I wish your family and you are all in good health...”

“Do call me ‘Yoshiki, mister. “ Yoshiki replied with the hint of a smile on his pale face, but soon even this hint of a smile disappeared. ”As to my family members……my parents had passed away when I was still young, my grandmother is all I have left. But she has fallen ill half a year ago.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know that…” Toshi quickly apologized. 

“You have no need to apologize to me. You and I have just met, how can you know anything about my family?” Yoshiki replied. ”Still, Mr. Deyama. I’m counting on you to complete this reconstruction project as soon as possible. My Grandmother would love to see the Hayashi Mansion back to its old glory when she still has the chance, it is her only wish.”

Learning he had such a expectation to meet up with, Toshi was flattered, he replied. “I will not fail her...and you.”

Yoshiki nodded. “I’m pleased to hear that.”

Then the architect added. ”Please do call me 'Toshi' as well.”

“It’s fine, Toshi san.” For the first time, Yoshiki graced the other man a true smile.

To be continued.

**Author's Note:**

> I think you have to read Doll Inside the Box first in order to understand this sequel better.
> 
> Plus I just realized I’d somehow LOST the text to the first two chapters of this story, so I now must retype everything again. *sighs*


End file.
